By this time I had learned that my horse Tall Bull was a remarkably fast runner, and therefore when Lieutenant Mason, who was quite a sport and owned a racer, challenged me to a race, I immediately accepted it.  We were to run our horses a single dash of half a mile for one hundred dollars a side.  Several of the officers, and also Reub.  Wood, the post-trader, bantered me for side bets, and I took them all until I had put up my last cent on Tall Bull.

The ground was measured off, the judges were selected, and all other preliminaries were arranged.  We rode our horses ourselves, and coming up to the score nicely we let them go.  I saw from the start that it would be mere play to beat the Lieutenant’s horse, and therefore I held Tall Bull in check, so that none could see how fast he really could run.  I easily won the race, and pocketed a snug little sum of money.  Of course everybody was now talking horse.  Major North remarked that if Tall Bull could beat the Pawnees’ fast horse, I could break his whole command.

The next day the troops were paid off, the Pawnees with the rest, and for two or three days they did nothing but run horse-races, as all the recently captured horses had to be tested to find out the swiftest among them.  Finally the Pawnees wanted to run their favorite horse against Tall Bull, and I accordingly arranged a race with them.  They raised three hundred dollars and bet it on their horse, while of course, I backed Tall Bull with an equal amount, and in addition took numerous side bets.  The race was a single dash of a mile, and Tall Bull won it without any difficulty.  I was ahead on this race about seven hundred dollars, and the horse was fast getting a reputation.  Heretofore nobody would bet on him, but now he had plenty of backers.

I also made a race for my pony Powder Face, against a fast pony belonging to Captain Lute North.  I selected a small boy, living at the post to ride Powder Face, while an Indian boy was to ride the other pony.  The Pawnees as usual wanted to bet on their pony, but as I had not yet fully ascertained the running qualities of Powder Face, I did not care about risking very much money on him.  Had I known him as well then as I did afterwards I would have backed him for every dollar I had, for he proved to be one of the swiftest ponies I ever saw, and had evidently been kept as a racer.

The race was to be four hundred yards, and when I led the pony over the track he seemed to understand what he was there for.  North and I finally put the riders on, and it was all I could do to hold the fiery little animal after the boy became seated on his back.  He jumped around and made such quick movements, that the boy was not at all confident of being able to stay on him.  The order to start was at last given by the judges, and as I brought Powder Face up to the score and the word “go” was given, he jumped away so quickly that he left his rider sitting on the ground; notwithstanding he ran through and won the race without him.  It was an easy victory, and after that I could get up no more races.  Thus passed the time while we were at Fort Sedgwick.